Why Nigerian Artistes Need Government Support For Global Growth
Over the years, the Nigerian entertainment industry has without doubt produced exceptional talent. However, Convener of NECLive and CEO of BHM Holdings, Ayeni Adekunle, believes that beyond talent, the government needs to put platforms in place that help talent fully harness the opportunities that come with their art.
“We’ve not had a platform that allows us to play at the same level with those from Europe and America. As we are playing at that level, we could use the opportunity that playing at that level provides to help build the African economy, ”Ayeni noted.
He revealed this during an exclusive interview on Arise New on Sunday, November 26, 2023, where the past, present and future of the Nigerian entertainment industry was discussed in line with the release of NECLive’s documentary and report.
According to him, the government needs to be more deliberate with the support they give to entertainment practitioners. He argued that there must be a Nigerian agenda and an African agenda in making sure that Africans are exporting art and culture.”
Through NECLive, industry experts have discussed and provided solutions to problems that plagued the industry for the past ten years. With NECLive moving into its next phase, it has become imperative as Africa’s leading entertainment conference to tackle the problem of value.
“I’m just desperate to see that our musicians and actors can extract as much economic and personal value for themselves so that our economy can grow, earn foreign exchange, and that opportunity can build infrastructure here for us,” he told Arise News.
For him, although Nigerian artistes are playing on levelled ground with international acts when it comes to music quality, he believes that freeing our acts from stereotypical subgenres that do not define their music style is the next step to the globalisation of African music.
“I am one of those who cannot wait for our artistes, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido and co, to be ranked with their contemporaries based on their quality of music and not been grouped into sub-segments, Afrobeats and all, because Rihanna is Barbadian but she plays pop music, Drake is Canadian, he’s a rapper. So, if you look at our artistes they are as good as it gets. What we lack is the right budget.”
In the next decade, NECLive will be focusing on generating discussions that tackle these issues. Meanwhile, the NECLive documentary and report released on Thursday, November 23, 2023, will serve as a reminder of where the industry was and how instrumental the conference was to the globalisation of African music.
